Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Bounty

BOUNTY, in commerce, a premium paid by government to the exporters and importers of certain commodities, such as corn, sail-cloth, silk-stockings, fish, &c.

Bounties are sometimes given to support a new manufacture against one of a similar kind established by other nations. To promote the manufacture of sail-cloth in this country, was doubtless an object of the greatest national importance, on account of our vast consumption of that article.

The principal intention of bounties to exporters, is to enable the British trader to become beneficial to his country, by giving him a compensation for his ingenuity and industry. As bounties are usually granted only for a limited time, they can never be the cause of any material loss to a nation, though avaricious men are often stimulated by a desire of gain, to convert to their private advantage what was intended for the benefit of the community.